OAO Uralkhimplast was fined for violating the security market regulations. The fine amounted to 700,000 RUR. The decision to make the company pay a fine was taken by Ural Federal District’s division of Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service.

Yekaterinburg is currently hosting the 5th All-Russian seminar meeting of the top executives running Interpol’s Russian branches. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin addressed the meeting in order to emphasize that the region was interested in the development of international cooperation, in preserving and building up on economic stability, and in promoting the rule of law in the area. The Governor declared Yekaterinburg was prepared to welcome a local division of Interpol’s General Secretariat that would collaborate with the national central bureaus in the member states of the

Russian Stock Exchange (RTS) index rose 1.67% and reached 1488.67 points over the week of September 20-24, 2010. On September 17, 2010, the index came to 1464.18 points. The common stock of LUKOIL (LKOHS) made the most positive impact on the index, with its +14.05 rise. The shares of Sberbank of Russia (SBERS) and Norilsk Nickel (GMKNS) increased by +8.19 and +3.68 points, respectively. The common stock of OAO Concern Kalina (KLNA), which dropped by 5.26% down to $18, topped the list of depreciating shares and was followed by the ordinary and preference shares of OAO Rostelecom (RTKM): these

The public prosecution authorities of Kurgan Region completed their investigation of OAO VUZ-Bank; the inspection was aimed at checking the bank’s observing consumer lending rights. It was detected that VUZ-Bank violated the existing Consumer Rights Protection Act in that the loan agreements did not contain any data as to the actual amount of annual interest for using the borrowed money. What is more, it was also revealed that in some instances the bank violated Article 16 of the said Act in that the loan agreements only allowed the borrowing party to pay the loan back early if a

UrBC, Moscow, September 24, 2010. The Russian Federation Finance Ministry carried a report on the debts accounted for in the public debt books of Russia’s federal constituencies and the municipal debt books by August 1, 2010. According to this report, Ural Federal District’s state debt rose to 25.8 billion RUR against 25.7 billion RUR on July 1, 2010. The district’s greatest debtor is Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, with its 11.3 billion RUR worth of debts; the region is followed by Sverdlovsk Region, with its 8.3 billion RUR (8.5 billion RUR). Chelyabinsk Region’s debts come to 3.7

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 24, 2010. ‘We can now see that the development strategy we’ve chosen for Yekaterinburg is the right one. Our main challenge is to promote the city as a brand. This ProEstate contest is an important part of the city’s image. Investors hear that Yekaterinburg wins, and this shapes their idea of the place. Nine years ago, Yekaterinburg was generally referred to as the city of smoke-filled chimney-stocks; these days, a large-scale re-branding campaign is being launched on a grand scale,’ says Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev. Now Yekaterinburg’s newest

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 24, 2010. Yekaterinburg’s Chkalovskiy district court sustained eighteen claims laid by the district prosecutor against a number of employers who failed to create or provide special workplaces for the disabled within the required quotas. The public prosecution authorities checked the companies’ compliance with the legal requirements for the protection of the disabled and detected that eighteen enterprises based in Chkalovskiy district of Yekaterinburg (including OOO Spetsremstroy, OOO Ural Tire Plant, OOO Oil Plant, OOO Ceramics Plant, and others) do not set up

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 24, 2010. ‘We are very glad to see that Renova-StroyGroup has won this FIABCI contest. This only makes sense, since Academic is an important object for the entire country. Even though the place is officially considered a district, it is, in fact, a real city, and Russia’s only city built from scratch. Both the master plan and the project of the area were evaluated very highly,’ the plenipotentiary representative of Managers & Developers Guild in Yekaterinburg Andrei Bril announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Now the city’s newest Academic

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 24, 2010. Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Sergey Smetanyuk coordinated the final meeting of a work team responsible for the organization of the Ural Forum on Russian-Ukrainian Cooperation. The meeting was attended by the representative of the Russian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yekaterinburg Sergey Khvan, the Consul-General of Ukraine in Tyumen Mikhail Kolyadin, the chief federal inspectors, official from Ural Federal District’s constituencies, and representatives of the Russian Union

OAO Uralfinprombank got a brand new set of stockholders recently. The bank’s new proprietors are Natalya Pronina (17.08%), Vitaliy Kunitsin (16.47%), Rustem Kadyrov (15.62%), Alexander Dankov (17%), Svetlana Belova (14.91%), and Andrei Belov (18.92%), the company’s official report states. At the same time, members of the Supervisory Board Stanislav Shanaurin and Tamara Udelnova, who used to have 4.72% and 0.33% of shares, respectively, no longer have a share in the bank’s authorized capital. The same is true of BOD members Sergey Udelniy and Valeriy Metelskiy, whose shareholdings used to come

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Russian Federation John Byerly introduced the new U.S. Consul-General in Yekaterinburg Mike Reinert to Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin. During the meeting, the Governor said Sverdlovsk Region was quite interested in further cooperation with the American business community, especially in the field of information technologies. John Byerly, in his turn, declared the American entrepreneurs were willing to work on various projects together, the Governor’s PR Department reports.

Kommersant came up with the 11th annual rating of Russia’s Best Managers recently. The rating is a joint project with the Russian Managers Association aimed at finding the most professional managers and leaders in various branches and departments each year. BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov was once again featured in the Business Leaders rating alongside with the country’s most prominent top managers and CEOs of major Russian businesses. According to the analysts who compiled the list, the main principle behind the rating system was, ‘Let the best

A group of officials from Chelyabinsk Region, headed by Governor Mikhail Yurevitch, is going to take part in the World Universal Fair EXPO 2010 in Shanghai on October 18-23, 2010. This is the first time the region is attending the event. The delegates have a number of goals to achieve, the most important ones being improving on Chelyabinsk Region’s international connections, attracting foreign investment, networking with the business community representatives, and promoting Chelyabinsk Region on the global arena. The agenda of the Russian pavilion at the fair provides for Chelyabinsk Region

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 21, 2010. Ural Airlines operated 1,810 flights in August 2010, including 707 international ones, 845 domestic ones, and 258 flights within the CIS. This was actually 5% better than a year earlier. As for the passenger turnover, 236,797 people flew with the carrier in August, which was 6% better than twelve months earlier. Ural Airlines managed to improve on its performance indicators thanks to entering some new markets: in the year 2010, the airline did more business in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Samara, and Irkutsk. This winter, the air carrier

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, September 21, 2010. The rating agency has recently promoted the rating outlook of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (ММК) from Stable to Positive; the enterprise’s long-term IDR has been affirmed at BB. Fitch Ratings reports the decision to improve the company’s rating outlook was brought about by a great increase in MMK’s ability to provide itself with raw materials over the last few years. What is more, the enterprise is to implement a number of investment projects to build up its raw materials base in the next three to four years. The promotion of

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, September 20, 2010. A millionth ton of goods generated by plate mill 5000 was produced in the sheet-rolling shop No. 9 of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (ММК) during a night shift on September 13, 2010. The ‘anniversary’ batch of К60 (Х70) metal was meant for Vyksunskiy metallurgical plant, a member of United Metallurgical Company. Mill 5000 is the key component of MMK’s plate iron facility that also comprises an out-of-furnace processing unit and a continuous casting machine. MMK signed a contract for the delivery of the equipment with SMS-Demag,

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, September 16, 2010. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (ММК) carried a financial report for the second quarter of 2010; the report was drawn up in compliance with the International Accounting Standards. MMK Group’s revenue in the second quarter of 2010 rose by 25%, or up to $2,068m against the first quarter of the year. The consolidated EBITDA went up by 17% and reached $437m. ‘Despite the dramatic increase in the raw materials prices in the second quarter and less favorable market opportunities, our EBITDA margin still looked good at 21.1% starting

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, September 13, 2010. President of MMK Management Company Viktor Rashnikov signed an order for pay rises at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (ММК). The increase in wages and salaries will go along the wage-growth program adopted by the company. For one, the pay of workers, managers, white-collar experts, and clerks will go up 10%. This is the second time the enterprise’s employees have got a pay rise this year, as the wages and salaries went up 10% in March 2010. All in all, MMK is expected to spend about 1 billion RUR on wage increases in the year

The rating agency has recently promoted the rating outlook of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (ММК) from Stable to Positive; the enterprise’s long-term IDR has been affirmed at BB. Fitch Ratings reports the decision to improve the company’s rating outlook was brought about by a great increase in MMK’s ability to provide itself with raw materials over the last few years. What is more, the enterprise is to implement a number of investment projects to build up its raw materials base in the next three to four years. The promotion of the rating outlook also stems from the agency’s positive

OAO Gazpromneft-Ural is to pay a 500,000-ruble fine for committing an administrative offense in the securities market field; the company’s charges are based on Article 15.19 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code. The decision to this extent was made by Ural Federal District’s division of the Federal Financial Markets Service.